Stupid questions : How does Scottrade work?

2. Do you fill a tax form upfront and file next year? Or is it withheld?

3. How do you cash out?

4. Is it only $7 regardless of buy, sell, how much you trade? No other fees?

5. Is there any law or rule against trading the same stock back and forth?

6. Theoretically, if I put in $100, I can put $93 to buy whatever I like, then if it rises 20%, I can sell it for about $111.50, minus $7, $104.50. How soon can I have this money to spend on groceries?

7. Anything else I should know?

YES, I know stocks are not the best investment, I'm only investing what I'm planning to lose.

2. Do you fill a tax form upfront and file next year? Or is it withheld?

3. How do you cash out?

4. Is it only $7 regardless of buy, sell, how much you trade? No other fees?

5. Is there any law or rule against trading the same stock back and forth?

6. Theoretically, if I put in $100, I can put $93 to buy whatever I like, then if it rises 20%, I can sell it for about $111.50, minus $7, $104.50. How soon can I have this money to spend on groceries?

7. Anything else I should know?

YES, I know stocks are not the best investment, I'm only investing what I'm planning to lose.

A lot of questions.

1. Wire transfer, or go to a office and drop off cash or money order. I think you can mail in money orders, too.
2. No. Depending on what type of account, you'll get a tax form at the end of the year.
3. Depending on the account. If you have a 401, they would be penalized, so, you have to set up an individual account.
4.Pretty much. Nothing to worry about.
5. There is a day trader rule. Just don't make over 3 trades a day for several days in a row, or maintain the cash balance needed for day trading
6. Yes, depending on the type of account, and being general...less than two days
7. When you sign up, you will be greeted by an online chat window to guide you through any questions you have.

1. Wire transfer, or go to a office and drop off cash or money order. I think you can mail in money orders, too.
2. No. Depending on what type of account, you'll get a tax form at the end of the year.
3. Depending on the account. If you have a 401, they would be penalized, so, you have to set up an individual account.
4.Pretty much. Nothing to worry about.
5. There is a day trader rule. Just don't make over 3 trades a day for several days in a row, or maintain the cash balance needed for day trading
6. Yes, depending on the type of account, and being general...less than two days
7. When you sign up, you will be greeted by an online chat window to guide you through any questions you have.

TruthisTreason covered most things, but just to clear some things up.

3. You can get a wire transfer or a check.

4. $7 per trade unless the stock is under $1, then its $7+.5% of capital invested.

5. Day trading rule, limit of 4 (so 3) day trades in a rolling 5 business day period. A day trade is buying and selling the stock the same day. You can sell it and buy it back the same day without a problem, or buy it at 4pm the day before and sell at 9:30am the next day without a problem.

7. Ive used Scottrade for years and I've never had a problem. They even gave me my money back when someone hacked my account and bought a pennystock and lost my money. I think its $500 minimum to start an account, but no min or fees after that.

2. Do you fill a tax form upfront and file next year? Or is it withheld?

3. How do you cash out?

4. Is it only $7 regardless of buy, sell, how much you trade? No other fees?

5. Is there any law or rule against trading the same stock back and forth?

6. Theoretically, if I put in $100, I can put $93 to buy whatever I like, then if it rises 20%, I can sell it for about $111.50, minus $7, $104.50. How soon can I have this money to spend on groceries?

7. Anything else I should know?

YES, I know stocks are not the best investment, I'm only investing what I'm planning to lose.

1. You can fund your account several ways. The easiest way is by linking it directly to a checking/savings account you have at a bank. If you have access to online banking through your bank, you can set this up instantly. If you don't then they make two microdeposits to your bank account that you will use to verify it is your account. This takes 2-3 days.

Additionally, you can send them a check, money order, or do a wire transfer.

2. I don't know how this works yet

3. Same way you cashed in. If you have your scottrade account linked to your bank account, you can transfer the funds directly to it. This either will occur instantly, or take 2-3 days. I'm not sure yet.

4. Yes

5. I don't think so, but I'm not sure

6. See #3. Also, the minimum opening balance is $500, so u cant just put in $100

7. You must go to the local branch office to open your account. You can fill out the application online, but they will then call/email you to tell you that you have to come into the office so they can photocopy your state ID before your account is active.

Also decide if you want options or margin access on your account before you set it up. Since you are new at this, you most likely dont want either.

Regarding tax stuff. I just made my first purchases last week. After your purchases go through, on one of your subsequent logins they will bring you to a page they tell you to print to keep for your tax records. I printed and saved the page (I retain electronic and hard copies of everything).

Sucks for me though. I invested in APL on Friday. Monday they released Q4 results and they weren't too good. I bought in at $5.46 now trading at $3.61

Oh well, I'm in it for the long haul. I'm pretty sure APL will come back once oil and natural gas start going back up in price and my other stocks aren't doing too badly.

You can have unlimited day trades if you have over $25,000 in your account. Otherwise you are limited to 3 daytrades in a rolling 5 business day period. These are ONLY when you buy and sell the same stock the same day. NOT if you sell and re-buy, or just make 10 buys of separate stocks, etc..

I've been thinking about something like this for a long time, but never really remembered to actually look anything up on it, though. However, I have just one tiny little question, would it be OK for a poor person who really needs every dime he has (as well as having a family of four) to try something like this? And what trade companies exist online that are decent and, I guess, the lowest in charges?

I've been thinking about something like this for a long time, but never really remembered to actually look anything up on it, though. However, I have just one tiny little question, would it be OK for a poor person who really needs every dime he has (as well as having a family of four) to try something like this? And what trade companies exist online that are decent and, I guess, the lowest in charges?

I'm afraid I can only answer the second part of that question hah. Scottrade is about the cheapest out there if you want instant trades. With some companies, you can get cheaper, like $3 a trade, but those won't be instant trades. The trade will go through at the end of day or something similar. They will also have limited trade types.

1. Can you trade a $30 stock for 2 $15 stocks? Or do you have to sell A, then take your money to buy B?

2. Is $7 a transaction fee? Or, basically if :

I want $300 in stock A
And $200 in stock B
another $100 in stock C

Is there a way I can put them all in a shopping cart to pay $7 total at once? Or must they all count as one transaction, thus, $21 for 3 trades?

3. If Google is $350 a share, can I only buy one share at a time, and not a portion of it if I have less than $350?

1. Must sell stock then buy new stock. Can't trade stock for stock.
2. No shopping cart. You have to pay 7 for each different stock. $21 for 3 trades
3. Can't buy a portion, you have to buy the whole thing.

I use ameritrade. It may seem high a 9.99 a trade but there are really 0 fees with the account so no supprises, no limits on trades that I know about. Funding is quick and you can tie in ACH direct to your bank. The iphone app alone is worth the 2$ a trade to me.

Start an account with $2000 and you get unlimited trades for 30 days. I only ended up using about 20 trades during the time. Should have been up 30% if I trusted the trades and the people I was listening too. I'm up 10% even with the fees.. but just getting involved I've learned tons.

Also, the phone service at Ameritrade has always been helpful.. but I have had any issues that have been too involved yet.

I use ameritrade. It may seem high a 9.99 a trade but there are really 0 fees with the account so no supprises, no limits on trades that I know about. Funding is quick and you can tie in ACH direct to your bank. The iphone app alone is worth the 2$ a trade to me.

Start an account with $2000 and you get unlimited trades for 30 days. I only ended up using about 20 trades during the time. Should have been up 30% if I trusted the trades and the people I was listening too. I'm up 10% even with the fees.. but just getting involved I've learned tons.

Also, the phone service at Ameritrade has always been helpful.. but I have had any issues that have been too involved yet.

* There is no minimum funding required to open an account
* Accounts funded with less than $1,000 are not eligible for any promotions
* Electronic funding minimum is $500
* Margin or option privileges on account require a minimum of $2,000

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